Ipi
TFI Suppport
Logline
When filmmaker Yasmin Hed discovers 16mm footage of the forgotten Apartheid-era South African musical Ipi N’Tombi, filmed by her late father in the 1970’s, she searches for meaning in the film he never finished.
Traveling to Johannesburg, she meets Todd Twala, an original dancer in the musical. Twala recounts working alongside Bertha Egnos, the white South African playwright who adapted this story about a Zulu warrior leaving his village to work in the treacherous Johannesburg goldmines.
Through Twala, Yasmin learns the musical’s controversial history: beloved by some, loathed by others. Twala reveals that she still carries scars from the period after the Soweto riots, when the musical traveled to Broadway, becoming the focal point of rage about Apartheid.
Together, Yasmin and Twala reconstruct the musical with a new generation of dancers, finishing the film Yasmin’s father never did - exploring identity, history and their connections to this universal story.
Yasmin Hed
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Yasmin is a Dutch / American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. IPI is her debut feature documentary.
Eric Juhola
PRODUCER
Eric is the director and producer of 2016’s GROWING UP COY, a trans-youth rights documentary which won 2 best documentary awards at festivals and is being distributed worldwide by Netflix. Over the course of production, Eric was invited to be a Sundance Fellow and participated in the Sundance Producer’s Lab, as well as the 2013’s Tribeca/A&E Storytelling Lab. Previously Eric produced BROKEN HEART LAND (ITVS/ America ReFramed) and OFF THE GRID: LIFE ON THE MESA (Sundance Channel/Gotham Award Nominee).
Jeremy Stulberg
PRODUCER
Jeremy Stulberg is a documentary filmmaker, writer, producer and editor. He is a Sundance Documentary Fellow and the recipient of grants from numerous organizations including the New York State Council on the Arts, The Sundance Documentary Fund, The Tribeca Film Institute Documentary Fund, ITVS, The Arcus Foundation and The Fledgling Fund. Together with his husband, he runs the production company Still Point Pictures. His films GROWING UP COY (Netflix), BROKEN HEART LAND (ITVS/ America Reframed) and OFF THE GRID: LIFE ON THE MESA (Sundance Channel/ Gotham Award Nom).